How to talk about GOd in the 21st Century

This is the second article in the How to Talk about God series. Last month I spoke on what it is like to talk to God and I used television shows to explain two perspectives. This month, I would like to complain about the problem of hermeneutics, the fact that everyone has preconceived notions. Something that we all experience when we try to speak to non-Christians about our faith is that people want to tell us what we think instead of listen to us. There is a two fold reason for this.

First, we as humans want to teach more than we want to learn. This is a pretty well documented sociological fact and remembering this when we encounter people who always dispute our facts, opinions and faith goes a long way towards keeping us in charity with our fellow humans. We are who we are and we like to be 'in the know.'

Second, we live in a post Christendom era. The Anabaptist Network have put together a FAQ of their “Core Convictions” and one of them sums this idea up perfectly. “Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost all were assumed to be Christian. Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalized Jesus, and has left the churches ill-equipped for mission in a post-Christendom culture.”

Our world is still full of default Christian values and traditions. Christmas and Easter are still considered national holidays, people running for public office are expected to profess Christianity, and the media and marketing industries cater to the perceived desires of Christians, which we all too often defer to ourselves. Whatever Jesus WOULD do, I highly doubt he would buy bumper stickers. No matter how much I enjoyed both Wonderfalls and Joan of Arcadia, should I have been letting my understanding of the gospel and that of non-believers be molded by people trying to make a few dollars from advertising bathroom cleaner?

We are called to be set apart from the rest of the world. This is not because we know we are better than the other inhabitants of the planet, but because we know that we are worse. We are called apart to serve people in need and not to cater to the power brokers of this world. When we want to talk to people about God, are we doing this? And more importantly, how are we doing this? Asking people if they are saved and do they know Jesus invites one of my favorite bumper sticker responses, “Born OK the first time.” These questions are phrased in a language set apart, and the secular understanding of them will never match the 'technical term' status we assign them. What I think of when someone says 'chaos theory' and what the physicist think are radically different.

Hermeneutics is the study of the problem of preconceived notions. We must be careful that we understand this problem, and we understand what the preconceived notions are before we try to talk to someone about church, or Jesus, or Christianity (three very different things). When we ask people what they think first, before we speak, we acknowledge their world view and perspectives. This gives us a language, their language, as a place to begin the conversation. This allows us to address other peoples actual needs, which is the true service instructed by the gospels and what we are actually trying to say when we ask, Are you saved?